


When the Villain Falls

by nerdy_as_heck



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Dear Evan Hansen References, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 01:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17839595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdy_as_heck/pseuds/nerdy_as_heck





	When the Villain Falls

"Accepting Anxiety" was not a magical fix to all their problems.

It didn't stop the nerves that each of the sides felt around Virgil.

It didn't stop the antagonizing of him almost every opportunity. It didn't stop the multitude of arguments that still arose in nearly every conversation.

Today was no different. And an argument between Roman and Virgil? Practically an everyday occurrence. Though it was never a pleasant one, evident by the loss of hope to fight in both Patton and Logan's eyes as they watched.

"Its a once of a life time opportunity! If Thomas doesn't do it now, he may never get the chance again!"

"If he fails, this will completely ruin his chances of going anywhere in the acting world! This director is a big deal, he's nowhere near ready for an audition like this!"

By this point, their volume had gotten too loud to hear Thomas' attempts at calming them down. Logan attempted to calm down Virgil, and Patton focused on Roman, but to no avail. This time, things seemed to escalate far faster, and in a matter of minutes Virgil was on his feet and shoved Roman backwards. "Why can't you just listen to me for once in our fucking life?? Maybe I should duck out again for real this time and that would teach you!" Logan had grabbed Virgil's arms, much to his frustration as he struggled to get away.

Roman was too strong for Patton to hold him back and they both knew it. There was no stopping Roman as he spit out a lyric from one of their favorite musicals, returning the shove even stronger.

"You could be dead for all I care! When the villains fall, the kingdoms never weep."

Silence. Over the entire room.

All eyes were on Roman as he took deep breaths. Slowly, the realization began to hit as his eyes widened. But by then, the attention was back on Virgil, who's makeup had running following the track of his tears. "...Fine." With a shove to get away from Logan and a snap of his fingers, Virgil was gone.

And then the room erupted into chaos once more.

Patton was the first to speak up. "Roman! Do you have any idea what you just did?" The fanciful side could only stutter as he stepped back away from the two sides who only seemed to grow angrier as they walked closer.

"Have you not learned a single lesson lately?"

"My kiddo could be hurt! You have to find him and apologize!"

And all the while, Roman tried to justify himself. But how could he? The damage was already done.

"I-I wasn't thin-" "You never do! You always act before taking any thought, you're reckless and careless."

"I didn't mean-" "What else could you have meant? You really hurt him..."

This process continued for several minutes, and over time Roman's arguments began to fall apart on themself. There was nothing he could say to convince them that he truly hadn't wanted to hurt Virgil. Musical references, Disney references... They were an unconscious decision. Those words... He never would have created them from his own mind. How could he admit that he made a mistake? When Thomas expected him, needed him to be the perfect, flawless prince he was? Too wrapped up in his own thoughts, Roman didn't notice that Patton had left his side and was holding onto Thomas until it was too late. "Kiddo... Kiddo, you're doing great, just keep breathing."

Those words snapped both Logan and him out of it, as they noticed Thomas doubled over on the floor, struggling to breathe. Logan spoke the thought both of them had. "Panic attack... Virgil wouldn't do this on purpose. He's in trouble." Roman ran to try and calm Thomas, but Logan stopped him. "You need to go find Virgil and apologize. Patton and I will stay." It was said with such a tone of finality that Roman had no ability to protest, allowing Logan to join Patton on the floor.

"Keeping going, kiddo... You're doing great, you've got this."

"Breathe, Thomas. In for 4... Holding for 7..."

And then Roman was sinking out to Virgil's room. Immediately, the increased anxious force nearly sent Roman to his knees as the breath was knocked from his lungs. "V... Virgil?" It was too dark to even see. Save for a small bit of sobs that silenced the second Roman spoke up, it was impossible to tell where Virgil was. All he could do was crawl until his eyes adjusted to the dark, revealing the hooded trait sitting in the fetal position against the wall, mumbling to himself.

"Not good enough, never good enough, they hate you, fuck, they pretended, villain, monster, enemy, evil, bad guy, nothing more, fuckfuckfuck." Roman's heart broke as he crawled closer, already beginning to feel his tears pool at the sound. How could he fix this? Think Roman, you fucking idiot, think! What usually calmed him down? Headphones? Headphones! They were sitting only a few feet away and Roman stretched to grab them, but the second he tried to hand them over, Virgil simply pulled his hoodie over his head and let his tears fall silently. Clearly, he wasn't in the mood to talk, whether he knew Roman was the one there or not.

Already, the effects of the room were starting to get to him, only being magnified by Virgil's current state. The eyeshadow nearly covered Roman's cheeks entirely as he too began to sob. How can I just fix this??? He didn't know. So, Roman did the only thing he knew how to do in distressed situations; he began to sing.

_Have you ever felt like nobody was there?_

_Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?_

_Have you ever felt like you could disappear?_

_Like you could fall and no one would hear?_

Slowly and off key, the words to You Will Be Found began to come out of Roman's mouth. It sounded truly odd and empty without any music backing it up, yet even Roman's shaking voice made it sound peaceful. Even calming to the point where Virgil's tears halted themselves, focusing on the nearby voice. Of course, Roman was far too distracted with his own thoughts to realize this, to notice that Virgil had lowered his hood and begun to breathe more regularly. As the song continued, the room began to lighten from its pure black shade. Roman did his best to keep up and sing the multiple voice parts near the end. When the final notes rang out, Roman took a gasping breath in as they both found themselves whisked to the living room once again.

...how long had Logan been standing there? Talking to Virgil and calming him down? Roman glanced over to Thomas. At least he seemed... Safe. So everything was fine now. The situation was fixed.

Except Roman couldn't hear a word they were saying over the ringing in his ears. It didn't feel as though the eyeshadow had fully left... If anything, it seemed to be growing. But all three of them were crowding around Thomas. Why wasn't he getting better? Occasional jumbles of words floated in and out. "... Heart rate rising ... Is he okay? ...  Out for 8 ... Where's Roman? ... Oh my god ..." He couldn't focus on any one particular voice. Even his vision seemed to be going dark as Roman's lungs tightened.

Before he could see any of them, he felt his hands being guided to another person's chest. "Hey, Princey, breathe with me, okay?" He hadn't even been able to register the voice, simply forcing himself to take shaky breaths. This wasn't happening right now. This couldn't be happening, he was the Prince, the one every expecting to be strong and brave and perfect and happy and positive- His sobs only got louder as the person helping him began to count out the 4, 7, 8 pattern out loud.

Being outside of Virgil's room, it didn't take as long for Roman to calm himself down, wiping the tears away only to see... Virgil. In front of him. Helping him out of the attack. As soon as he was able to do that, Virgil smirked and gave a tiny salute, allowing Patton to tackle Roman in a hug while he joined Logan to check on Thomas. "He's back to normal now... Or normal as possible after an experience like that. I recommend a movie night in. Perhaps... We could treat ourselves to pizza? I think he's definitely earned it." Already Logan was dialing the number of the restaurant, knowing no one would object. After several minutes of calming talk, Logan and Patton each took an arm of Thomas to lead him to the couch to lay down, leaving an exhausted Virgil and a confused Roman alone.

Roman, of course, was the first to speak up. "...why did you help me?" Roman so weakly asked, hardly able to look Virgil in the eyes as the other shrugged. After a few seconds of silence, it was clear a verbal answer was wanted, so he just sighed.

"I don't fucking know... Because... You... Helped me back there, alright? Just... Don't tell anyone about how I acted back there, okay? It was fucking stupid anyway..."

Roman scooted forward to wrap his arm around Virgil's shoulders and, despite the tension, he didn't pull away. "It wasn't stupid. I'm... Sorry. Truly. I'm quite the royal pain, wouldn't you say?" That got a quiet snort out of Virgil, who refused to laugh. "Just don't tell the others about my horrendous singing back there and you've got a deal."

Despite himself, Virgil smiled softly as he threw Roman's arm off of him. "Deal, Princey. Now shut up with the sappy stuff. I call dibs on picking the first movie."

"Let me take a guess-"

They both chimed in at the same time. "Nightmare Before Christmas."


End file.
